Abstract

Color centers in lithium fluoride irradiated with high energy heavy ions

Author(s): H.Benhacine, A.Meftah

Single crystal samples of lithium fluoride were irradiated at room temperature with different energy (144 - 255 - 544 and 840 MeV) Pb+53 ions in fluence range between 1×109 and 4×1012 ions/cm2. The optical absorption and photoluminescence (PL) techniques were used for characterisation of the irradiated samples. The damage is dominated by the creation of simple defects (F centers) and aggregated defects (Fn centers). The concentration of F-center increases as a function of fluence and energy. On the other hand two very intense PL bands are observed at around 545 and 665 nm which correspond to the emission of F+ 3 and F2 centers respectively and increase linearly in the same fluence range.